Day 60: Hail!

July 26, 2019

Friday, July 26th. 8:30 pm, 74 degrees.

When thunderstorms happen on hot, humid summer days, sometimes you get hail. The updrafts of the storm carry the water droplets in the air all the way up above the freezing level. Here, it becomes a hailstone. It may continue to grow bigger if more water freezes onto it. Eventually, the hailstone becomes so heavy the updraft can no longer lift it, and it falls to the ground. It takes a really strong updraft to create large hailstones. Hailstones can get as large as golf balls or, in rare cases, softballs. Thankfully, the hailstones falling here today are not that big!